In brief: Apil ramps up asbestos campaign

The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers has stepped up its campaign to get compensation for ex-service personnel suffering from asbestos-related diseases. It has joined the recently-formed working group of the National Asbestos Related Disease Association, whose members include David Jamieson MP and Major Tom House of the Royal British Legion. Under current legislation, service personnel who sustained asbestos-related injury before 1987 cannot claim compensation for their injuries. Civilian MoD employees who suffer the same symptoms and contracted the disease in identical conditions, are eligible to receive substantial compensation. Apil is lobbying Parliament to introduce legislation along the lines of the Pneumoconiosis Act, which would give ex-service personnel suffering from asbestos-related diseases a right to compensation without the need for litigation. It will hold a fringe meeting on the subject at the Labour Party Conference on 1 October.